


And ultimately I believe we'll be okay

by mandaree1



Category: 101 Dalmatian Street (Cartoon)
Genre: (pun intended), Bc I will never be over that, Changing family dynamics, Delilah calling Dolly "sweets", Diesel being melodramatic, Diving into what it means to be a Top Dog, Doug and Delilah are great characters but aren't always the best parents, Family Fluff, Gen, Not like metaphorically but literally, Set after the finale, They're trying tho!, Wacky misundestandings, snuggle piles, stormy days
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22976203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandaree1/pseuds/mandaree1
Summary: Doug and Delilah seek to change their level of involvement in the pups' lives after they go to Dolly and Dylan for comfort after the night of the devil woman.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 55





	1. Prologue

The smell lingers. Delilah kept her nose buried in Doug's pelt to try and push it away. It almost worked. The light of the muted TV cast a calming glow on the duo as an old Thunderbolt Adventure Hour episode played. Doug let out a sigh. She felt his shoulders loosen.

"I'm _pooped_ ," he proclaimed.

Delilah found herself chuckling quietly. "Yes, I am too." She nuzzled his cheek fur affectionately. "You were very brave, dear."

Doug turned a very interesting shade of red, ears flat. "Aw, shucks," he said. "You were the real brave one. You bit her purse!"

"It didn't taste very good."

"No kiddin'. I got a whole mouthful of the stuff!" He leaned over and purposefully blew a raspberry. Delilah caught a good whiff of dog breath and De Vil and coughed, eyes watering.

"Doug!" she chided, giving his shoulder a good shove. Delilah couldn't deny the smile coming across her muzzle, unbidden. "Gross!"

The mirth was broken by the teeny-tiniest of whimpers coming from upstairs, followed close by with a yip. Doug and Delilah were instantly alert, ears cocked, ready to go on the defensive, but no more noises came.

"Sounded like Dorothy," Delilah told Doug rhetorically. "You think she had a bad dream?"

"I know I would," he responded, leaping off the couch. "C'mon, let's go see."

The Dalmatians took the stairs two at a time, eager to comfort any pup that was suffering ill-effects from the events of the past couple days, only to find the hallway absolutely empty. The door to the larger bedroom was cracked, however, and when the two parents shoved their heads inside they discovered an absolute _sea_ of spots, the likes of which the room had never seen. It was far more uncommon for them all to be squashed together than it was to find puppies snoring on the stairwells, in the pots, in kibble bowls, so on.

"Look," Delilah whispered, pointing with her foot. Amidst the sea was a tiny, wriggling wave, which climbed over its bigger siblings with ease. "Dorothy!" she called, raising her voice just a bit. "Dorothy, sweetie, over here!"

Dorothy paused atop Dante's back to look at her. She was shaking.

"Come to mummy, sweetie," Delilah cooed. "Daddy and I will keep you safe and warm."

Doug was nodding along. "You can have an extra special spot with us!"

Dorothy snorted dismissively and kept moving. Her final destination was an impeccably well-kept dog bed and the older pup sleeping on it. The youngest Dalmatian bit on Dylan's ear and tugged.

Delilah opened her mouth, hoping to stave off waking one of the Top Dogs, but it was too late. Dylan shifted, raised his head, and let out a truly impressive yawn. "Dorothy?" he mumbled. "What's the matter?"

Dorothy buried her muzzle in the crook of his arm.

"Aww, bad dream?" Dylan carefully pulled her closer. "Don't worry, I gotcha." He reached up and yanked hard on a dangling tail. Dolly came careening down, tangled up in a ratty blanket. " _We_ gotcha."

Dolly stuck her nose out with a grunt. "Dude, what the dog. That's so rude."

"Dorothy had a bad dream."

She immediately sat up. Dolly climbed into the dog bed, dragging the blanket over and around them. Dorothy was quickly tucked in-between them. "There we go, baby girl," Dolly murmured, then kissed Dorothy's temple. "I won't even kick Dylan's butt for waking me up. Not when you're feeling icky."

Dorothy giggled and curled into a little ball. Dolly stuck her tongue out over the pup's head, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Doug and Delilah exchanged a look. Delilah shut the door.

"You don't think the pups flocked to Dolly and Dylan, do you?" she asked.

"What? No. Why would they do that? We're right here!"

"Yes, for now. But they're used to relying on Dolly and Dylan during the day." Delilah hesitated. "You don't think they... don't trust us to be around?"

"Nah. That's nonsense."

"Yes, of course. Absolutely silly."

They looked at the door again.

"But..." Doug broached finally, clearing his throat. "Dorothy saw us. She knew we were there. And she still..."

"Dolly and Dylan give her lots of special attention, that's all."

"The attention a puppy needs."

"Yes," said Delilah, disheartened. "That."

"But the kids are proud of what we do! They're always bragging about it to their little friends."

"True. But what if... it's just not enough?"

Delilah looked at the door again, then Doug, who was staring contemplatively at his paws. The day's events were truly beginning to take hold, now. The adrenaline had worn off, leaving two tired dogs in its wake. And now this? Delilah steeled herself and wrapped him in a hug.

"Well, then," she said. "We'll just have to fix that, won't we?"


	2. Kill 'em with kindness

It was storming when Dylan woke. He grumbled and rolled over, too old to be scared of the pitter-patter, but upon doing so he found himself squishing a pile of puppies. He rolled back, mumbling apologies, only to find puppies had taken up his old spot in a matter of seconds. A rumble and they pounced, clinging almost desperately to him.

"Oh, dog," he said, waking up enough to realize what was bothering them. "Thunder." With some difficulty Dylan pulled a back paw free, and kicked Dolly. "Sis! Sis! C'mon, wake up."

Dolly's eyes just barely cracked open. She'd rolled onto her stomach at some point, and was completely covered in various siblings. "Whaaaaat?"

"It's thundering!"

She sighed and grabbed the nearest puppy, pulling them close like a teddy bear. The puppy let out an audible squeak as it squished into her fur. "S'okay, guys," she slurred, quickly falling back asleep. "S'just… a noise..."

Dylan kicked her again. Dolly snorted awake. "C'mon, we gotta go get the cloth toys from outside. Do you remember how muddy they got last time? We had to scrape the washers twice!"

Dolly put a paw to her muzzle. "Nose goes."

"Ugh, fine," he said, not surprised. Dylan carefully extracted himself from the pile and shook his fur out. He leaned in close to one floppy ear. "But _you're_ getting breakfast!"

"Breakfast?" the puppy pressed against her repeated. The mantra swept over the puppies quicker than the thunder.

Dolly glared at him. "I have no brother."

The horde of spotted dogs left the room in a tsunami, and Dylan rode on top of it, the smug little jerk. Dolly reluctantly crawled out from under the blanket to stretch each and every paw, making extra sure to get her toes. She licked one and smoothed out a cowlick that had risen in the middle of her back. Deciding that was as good as it was going to get, Dolly followed at a snail's pace, peeking out the doorway with a frown.

"I hope they didn't wake mum and dad," she said aloud. It had been Dylan's idea for them to sleep in one big huddle, for just that very reason- their parents had gone through a lot the past few days, arguably a bit more so than they had (struggling to upkeep their jobs on top of the De Vil mess couldn't have been easy on them) and for just one night they wanted to give them a bit of peace.

At the top of the stairs sat a puddle of white and brown fur. Diesel let out a loud groan as she approached, reaching out with grabby paws. "Up?"

"Aww, what's the matter, big guy?" Dolly bumped their noses together. "Rain gotcha down?"

He nodded glumly. "I wanna dig! But if I dig, I get all wet. Wet dirt isn't good for digging, Dolly!"

"Yeah, but you'll get to make plenty of mud pies when it stops! You love mud pies, right?"

"Gotta survive that long," Diesel responded, flopping onto his side dramatically. Dolly snorted and grabbed him by the scruff, letting him settle onto her back.

The sight that greeted Dolly as she turned into the dining room made her stop and blink. Puppies upon puppies were lined up at the table, each digging into a bowl of kibble. There was three very noticeably open places, each of which had a bowl of their own. Sitting proud near the center was Doug and Delilah, who each beamed as she clumsily hopped and wriggled over to the them.

"Good morning, sweets," Delilah chimed. "Your dad and I thought we'd get breakfast all ready for you."

"Thanks?" Dolly said, sitting on her own pillow. Diesel slid off her back to go after his own meal. "You guys are running late by now, aren't you?" She tipped her head to the side. "Did you take a sick day or something?"

They looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes. Delilah shook her head. "Where's your brother? This is something we wanted to talk about with all of you."

"Gettin' the toys from outside."

"In that?" She gestured to the heavy downpour just outside the window. "He wore his raincoat, didn't he?"

Dolly shrugged. She hadn't seen him leave, exactly, but it wasn't in Dylan's nature not to wear whatever safety gear was appropriate. "Probably."

Doug stood. "I'll go get him."

She watched, mouth agape, as her father ran towards the doorflap like it was an emergency. That was new. "Is everything okay?" Dolly asked Delilah. "You guys are acting... not-normal."

Delilah forced a smile. "We're fine, sweets. Just a bit sore."

* * *

"I dunno, man. It's weird. Really weird."

Dylan rolled his eyes as he clamped the washer shut, turning it on with a twist of his paw. "Dante, are you really accusing our parents of being the first sign of dystopia? For making us breakfast?"

The black Dalmatian was pacing back and forth, antsy. "You weren't there! They kept giving each other looks."

"Some dogs enjoy eye contact, Dante."

" _Knowing_ looks! They knew things!"

Dylan puffed some air out of his mouth and pulled his brother into a loose hug. "Look, buddy. I know that things are really stressful right now, but the danger is past. And, hey. If it's really bugging you, I'll ask them, okay?"

Dante blinked at him. His eyes were wide and innocent. "You promise?"

"I promise," he promised.

"There you are!" Dylan and Dante broke apart as Doug nudged his nose under the flap and into the room. The older Dalmatian was soaked from ears to tail. "Dolly said you were looking for toys to wash."

"Currently washing." Dylan pointed at the clunking washing machine. "Did you forget to put your raincoat on? Dad, you know that's a great way to catch a cold."

Doug shook himself out, tongue lolling happily. "Aww, that's okay. Let's get you kids to breaky! Your kibble'll get cold."

"Kibble doesn't-" he started, only to find Doug pushing him with his nose. Bemused, Dylan glanced at Dante, who gave him a 'what did I tell you' glare.

* * *

"It's very odd," Dawkins agreed as he situated himself on a crate. Normally, the Top Dogs didn't need to find a hidden spot to convene, but normally their issues didn't relate to their parents- whom were currently washing dog bowls- so they had relocated into the attic. "Statistically improbable, I would say. They didn't take a day off before any of this."

"Exactly!" It was Dylan's turn to pace the floor now, wildly shaking his head. "A whole week?"

Dante raised a paw. "I'd just like to say I totally called something being sus."

"Not the time, Dante," Dolly said. "And if they want to take a vacation, I say let 'em. We spend most of the day in the park anyway."

"What if that's what they're worried about? What if they think we can't do our job right?"

Dawkins tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. "Wouldn't they inform us if we were making such errors?"

"Did we tell them we had a big sleepover with the puppies?" Dylan argued. "After all that happened with De Vil, maybe they just think we aren't good enough to be Top Dogs anymore."

"Technically, only you and Dolly are Top Dogs."

"Ahem," Dawkins said.

"Oh, yeah. Him too."

Dolly slung an arm around Dante's shoulders. "But you're old enough to be our second-in-command! And if Mr. Worryears is right, then we're gonna need all paws on deck."

Dylan paused. It was rare that Dolly was immediately on his side like that. "You think so too?"

She hesitated, then shrugged. "I mean, there's gotta be a reason they're doing this _now_ , right? Maybe they're just scared. Maybe they wanna know we can do our jobs right next time. We kinda dropped the ball _hard_ with that escape route."

Dawkins went to reply, only for all of them to fall silent as the attic door banged open. Delilah poked her head inside. "Sorry to interrupt, but do happen to know if we have any flower pots? I thought I'd fill one with dirt for your brother."

Dolly and Dylan exchanged a look. They did a quick game of kibble-collar-groomer. Dolly lost and sighed. "I'll go see if Fergus knows any we can grab," she offered, then went to head down the stairs, only for Delilah to pointedly block her path.

"In that storm? Sweets, you can't be serious."

Dolly looked at the ensemble of pups behind her, bewildered. Dante met her eye and shrugged. "Dylan went out earlier and he was fine."

" _Dylan_ wore his raincoat and stayed in the yard." She gently ruffled Dolly's ears with a paw. "Vision is terrible in a mess like this, and humans aren't exactly grand in their sight as is. I'd hate for you to get in a wreck on your skateboard."

"But Diesel-"

Delilah stood firm. "Diesel will be okay without for a couple of hours. It'll make his mudpies all the sweeter."

"Not literally, I hope."

She gave Dolly a quick kiss on the cheek. "You kids have fun. Doug and I have the blanket fort covered."

In the time it took for their mother to turn and go back down the steps, Dylan had slumped pitifully against a dusty cardboard box. "But that's my thing!" he whined. "The blanket fort is my favorite part of stormy days!"

"That was... very peculiar," Dawkins agreed.

Dolly kicked the door shut with an unnecessary amount of force. "It's like they don't even trust us!" she snarled, deeply hurt. "Do they want us to be Top Dogs or not?"

Dylan sat up with a new fire in his eyes. "We gotta show them we're the right fit! They might be our mom and dad, but the pups are _our_ responsibility, and we've worked hard to make that work! Dawkins, can you fine-tune some new gadgets to show off? Make them see how amazing you are at improving lives."

"Of course I can! Let science _try_ to stop me."

"Dolly, you keep this pups so entertained they pass out every naptime like clockwork."

Dolly saluted. "I'll make them have fun if it kills 'em!"

"Dante, can you help me with chores around the house? I know it's not your cup of tea, but just think of all the poems your frustration and angst will give you!"

He sighed. "Why must I suffer for art?"

"That's the spirit!" Dylan puffed his chest out. "Alright, dogs; move out!"

"It's raining."

"Move out as soon as it stops raining!" he corrected, rolling his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took longer than necessary, I know, but this chapter's a bit more awkward for me. The next chapters are gonna be parents and kids learning from each other, you know? This is more just setting up the other side of the Wacky MisunderstandingTM. That said, I imagine I won't be uploading any faster- I'm notoriously lazy, and can get stubborn when pushed.
> 
> Next Time: Doug and Dylan help the Triple Ds with a shoot.
> 
> -Mandaree1

**Author's Note:**

> I've actually been planning on doing a story like this for a while now! The finale just gave me the perfect setting for it. 
> 
> As much as I love Doug and Delilah, Dolly and Dylan don't get nearly enough appreciation for basically being back-up parental figures, and I'm hoping to write a story with the perfect middle ground of that- the parents realizing they need to be more active in their kiddos' lives, and the kids realizing that they don't have to try and fill that gap, either. (More on that bit later)
> 
> -Mandaree1


End file.
